Renewed Beliefs
by jayjoan
Summary: AU, Oneshot. Temari hardly looked at things that she decided was an eyesore. It's why she couldn't be friends with Shikamaru's new girlfriend.


**You're gonna have to read in between the lines here, readers. **

* * *

**Renewed Beliefs**

Manami bounced down the hallway, humming a pretty little tune. She could not believe what success her confession brought about! The short brunette felt like screaming happily into her pillow at home, raving about her new boyfriend to her friends, and texting the beau the minute he finished his club.

It was during these distracting thoughts that absentmindedly, Manami turned the corner to be met with a forceful push and shove. In short, she got bumped into.

She stepped back, adjusting herself before looking up to apologize. "Ite...excuse me," she said in her naturally quiet voice.

Normally teal eyes darkened in irritation. The older girl with dirty blonde hair gave a dirty look in response, not saying anything yet except for a low-toned grunt. She subtly held the lollipop in her mouth a bit tighter.

Manami felt herself shrink under the unknown upperclassman's glare. She was getting an increasingly dangerous vibe and decided to just continue on her way instead of standing there in a freeze frame like an idiot.

It looked as though she'd come out of the situation unscathed when the door to the classroom she had just exited opened and another figure joined the problematic, or troublesome equation, which it became so when you considered the solved for the variables.

Shikamaru Nara, with his imperfect posture and tall jet-black ponytail, spoke, "Ah, Oku-san, I have your..." he trailed off and held his hand high, indicating her forgotten notebook in his hand.

Manami gasped in gratitude, momentarily forgetting about the scary blonde, and walked to where Shikamaru was.

"Thanks so much."

He nodded nicely before frowning upon the third person in the area.

"Temari, be nice," he said tiredly.

The main focus of her thoughts before the incident, Shikamaru's comment caused wonder in his recently-made girlfriend, Manami Oku. It was very true this Temari girl was being less than kind to her over a simple bumping into, but how could the Nara possibly tell?

The tall blonde, with her four puff balls atop her head, intensified her feral appearance and watched with disgust as the female kohai searched for Nara's hand. Shikamaru tried not to look too uncomfortable. It obviously worked when, in a display of rebellion towards the she-devil from his past, he also took up Oku's palm, hurrying her clumsy and shy fingers to fit his.

This time Temari chomped down on the chestnut flavored candy lollipop, an audible cracking sound resulting from such a vicious action. The only boy in the vicinity compared it to the sizzling of the atmosphere, also invigorated with mean expressions contorting his face and her mask.

Temari smirked and called out with her hand next to her mouth, "Don't mind me, young ones."

She closed her eyes and passed by them on the path to her locker, still awkwardly close to the couple.

At her locker Temari donned a gold and beige pull-over sweater, key colors of her hometown, also packing and unloading things from her bag.

Manami switched her eyes to and fro between the obviously once-involved Shikamaru and Temari.

Her boyfriend gently and slowly unclasped their fingers, turning Oku-san to face him.

"I'm going to go to my club now. See ya later?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded happily, "Mhm!" She could always get answers from him later, she told herself.

Shikamaru watched her get far away before turning to Temari, actually bumping into her when he failed to realize she was already in front of him when he made the decision to get upclose and personal.

She steadied him carelessly, hands touching his forearms and gripping his elbows.

Shikamaru did the same, holding her shoulders, though trying to stand arms length apart.

They froze, and Temari broke out calmly, "Why are you going out with her?"

He gritted his teeth. "I can go out with anyone I want."

She replied strongly, "Yeah. Except with the person you truly want."

Feelings of irritation enforced his now dominating body language. "Get over yourself."

"You need to get over what happened!" Temari said loudly, although in a very controlled voice.

His face remained cool while he mentally agreed.

"That Oku girl is an eyesore for me."

"And I have no idea why," sarcasm rang out in the statement.

The older girl peered at the genius of the ass before pulling him down a few inches by his collar.

"."."."

At home, Manami completed all three of her desires. She screamed into her pillow until her voice was hoarse, raved to her friends about Shikamaru to her friends so much that she got told to shut up, and eagerly waited for his reply to her first text, though when he did send something back, it was a message saying he was much too tired and was going to bed early, already ending a hardly begun conversation.

She politely accepted that, knowing Shikamaru appreciated the non-troublesome things in life.

The brunette thought he was quite an admirable character. They became friends as their sophomore year progressed, and just last night was her confession to him. He was quiet for a second before accepting her feelings and smiling a perfect smile.

Through their friendship and other means, Manami learned his ideal girlfriend was a plain Jane, with a complacent personality.

Now, Oku thought she fit that pretty naturally, and Shikamaru, being as smart as he is, surely noticed! Hence, her confession and their dating status.

Ino sat down Manami next to her at lunch the next day. They were already familiar with each other, being classmates. At first, Ino was a threat in her eyes, but she was soon ruled out as she and her now boyfriend's nature of relation was revealed to be one hundred percent platonic.

"You and Shikamaru are dating now?"

She happily replied, "Yeah!"

Ino hummed, "You're his ideal type of gal. I'm happy for you Mana-chan" she smiled.

The girl grinned back and expressed thanks.

A few moments later, said boy was sitting across from them, dropping a plastic tray of food down on the surface and folding his legs beneath the table.

Ino urged him with a push, " So what's up with you?"

"Nothin much," he replied blankly.

Chouji came by in just a few minutes and they had a nice lunch.

Later, when Shikamaru and his girlfriend parted, they waved at each other as she boarded off the train before him.

Manami was content.

"."."."

Temari was talking to her teacher when she spotted her favorite pineapple head walking out of the main office. She hurried up her conversation with Kakashi sensei in order to catch him. It wasn't that hard as he was going slowly as always.

"Shikamaru" she called out his name once beside him.

He looked back and raised his chin a bit as a greeting.

At her gesture they headed to the upper most staircase of the school, skipping lunch.

Instead of eating in the cafeteria, on the roof, Kiba, Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru, and Temari sat around sharing stories.

"Oh my gosh...I can't believe that," Temari laughed.

Shikamaru chuckled, "Yeah. The Third really beat down on me and Chouji that time."

Akamaru, sneaked in by his owner, played fetch a few yards away from the two with Kiba.

"Heh. I'd be dead for such behavior," commented Neji.

Tenten smiled at him, "Such a goodie goodie."

The blonde and lazy man wandered away from their friends as one of them was in deep need of a smoke.

Temari shook the burning match away from them as soon as his cigarette's end glowed with that crisp orange light around it.

His lips held the stick in place as they talked avidly.

Kiba breathed deeply, trying to calm himself as his lay on the ground, between the benches where his pale homie, Neji and the cheery brunette were seated. He finished his daily activities with his most lovable dog right then, taking a break.

Akamaru snuggled Tenten while she tried to feed him some treats Kiba gave her to keep earlier.

Together, comments about the difficult Shikamaru and Temari came up.

"Do you think Shikamaru gets along so well with all his exes?" wondered aloud Neji.

Kiba snickered. "There is no other ex. Temari was his first and only, guys."

Tenten gasped, "You shouldn't know something like that. Seriously uncool!"

"Ino probably got that from Shikamaru and that's how you know, right?" he directed back.

"Yeah, Blondie told me, but even if it wasn't that, you could fucking smell it." Kiba sniffed in demonstration. "Well if you had a nose like mine, I guess."

Tenten cooed at the lovely scene a few yards ahead of them, of her girlfriend and another close friend. She thought about it for a while longer and said, "Maybe not so lovely. I mean ideally sweet highschool couples don't smoke and trespass onto the roof right? Or even try to throw each other over the railing?" She winced as Temari's chest rose, inhaling the poisonous air surrounding her and the pineapple head. Tenten really did not approve of such bad habits and worried over it constantly, though without O.D-ing on them about it.

"Woah, when did that happen?" the palest of them all inquired, referring to the moment of his friends pushing each other off the roof depicted by his classmate, which clearly didn't happen today.

The bright junior's face became animated as she told them one of Shikamaru and Temari's rare hilarious adventures when they were still dating. Commenced was a round of chuckles, barking, and shaking shoulders.

The silence that follows a huge laugh engulfed the area.

The subjects of all their conversation glanced at their friends confusedly, though not very interested in enough to leave their obviously enjoyed seclusion as they kept exchanging smiles.

Neji observed their movements with each other. Shikamaru was chill as Temari gently pulled the death stick from him and took a few puffs on it herself, sharing an indirect kiss. They were leaning over the fence protecting them from free falling, quietly going back on forth with something, though not fighting.

Suddenly he thought of someone, and looked beside himself to take a look at her. She had a dreamy face on, so she must have been pleased by this display of public affection. The Nara and oldest Sand sibling were subtle yet intimate in their contact with each other. It was kind of sweet in a girly point of view, he supposed.

The Hyuuga expanded his thoughts and continued to decipher Tenten's facial expressions. Part of it was happiness for her friends, but then there was another emotion along with it. It was longing. To have a significant other. Neji thought that he felt the same yearning a couple of times with the cute brunette, however nothing ever happened. He sighed. If he considered Shikamaru pathetic right now, what was he?

Kiba shook the developing couple out of their currently weird mindsets as he labeled them, and spoke, "Isn't there a girl Manami in the mix?"

Tenten jumped with pep. "Yes and strangely, Temari isn't bullying her into submission," she stated in a tone indicative of her gladness.

"Nara must've acted preemptively and avoided trouble in the new situation by talking to her first."

The sophomore and junior wanted to laugh at how much praise filled that line. _Geniuses and prodigies_, they rolled their eyes comically.

Back at the edge of the roof, two people looked at each other in mischief.

"So that's it then."

The senior nodded. "Yeah."

At that second, the bell rang, signaling for regular classes to continue. They turned to see their three partners in crime hurrying to leave the rooftop, two of them grinning and waving goodbye while another, and you can guess who, settled with a smirk.

"Can you believe we didn't fight today?" he asked her, sincere in his shock.

Temari laughed, "It's because we're good."

Things became quiet before Shikamaru bent down his face to her, similar to their less chill encounter in the hallway with his girlfriend.

Temari was supportive in her next action.

"."."."

The classroom door opened with a bang when Manami was sitting at her desk, sifting through papers.

She quickly looked up, startled by the frightening appearance that she was sure was her upperclassman.

The short brown-haired girl did not know him by name however, and was keen on not speaking to the obviously demented boy when he called out, "This is a sophomore classroom, right?" looking for confirmation.

Manami gave it to him. The teen older by a year expressed a mischievous, handsome grin that made her blush.

"Great! Show me this kid's desk? His name's Shikamaru Nara."

Her eyes widened at the mention of her boyfriend and even more when she spotted purple tattoos lining the boy's arms. She decided to tread carefully with the hot but dangerous classmate.

"Um, why do you want to know?"

He scratched his head. "He deserves what's coming to him," he said simply.

"And what's that about?" Manami was becoming genuinely worried about Shikamaru's just desserts. Did he possibly borrow money from this delinquent?

"He's done me wrong by messing with my family."

"Why don't you try talking to him instead? Shikamaru Nara is a very reasonable person."

The brown-haired boy responded with a heavily roughened tone, "He didn't heed my warning and now I'm going to break him. Now show me his desk."

Manami's mind went _eeeekkk. _"I'm sorry, but I just cannot do that for you."

His eyebrows scrunched in annoyance. "Why not?"

She didn't really want to tell him this piece of information for fear of now being associated with the quite possibly gang related guy, but there was also a part of Manami that was excited and proud to relay her and Shikamaru's relationship status.

So she told him, "I'm his girlfriend."

His eyes widened in surprise before asking, "Really?"

"Yes," she replied. Manami's cheeks turned red, _Maybe that really was an outrageous thing to say..._

"You're Manami Oku?"

Now she was a little shocked to be known by this guy. "Do you know me?"

"Heh. Don't you know about your own boyfriend?" He sneered.

"Of course. But what are you talking about?" panic leaked into her voice.

"He's kind of got a past Oku, involving my sister. She's Temari. Do you know her?"

Manami's mind opened up the intimidating image of his sibling. Tall and shapely build. Sharp, sexy eyes and nicely-dressed. She remembered her as that unnecessarily mean bully in the hallway. The boy in front of her shared some features with her, in the way that both of them were absolutely gorgeous. Her heart sank.

"Yeah. Are you saying he is cheating with her on me?"

"Nara would never!," he said in mock drama. "And I'd like to believe my sister isn't that much of a bitch, but this is between her and Shikamaru, sooo..." he ended off.

Manami's heart pounded. She sniffed. "So this Temari is an important person to him?"

He looked at her contemplatively before responding, "I can't speak for Nara, but my sister really does hold him in high regard. And when it comes to him, her plans change." He shrugged.

"I only see this ending in hurt for you, Oku. Good luck."

With his brown hair, black clothes, and purple tattoos, Temari's brother started to leave the room.

"Wait! You forgot about his desk," she reminded him loudly.

He raised an eyebrow. "I can't pull of your revenge. What I was planning to do was of my own vocation plus the family business. Your added support ruins that, on top of how I've changed my mind."

Manami remained in the empty classroom, just thinking of how right the upperclassman was when he said that she was probably going to be the one in a world of emotional hurt at the end, which seemed to be coming soon.

"."."."

_The older girl peered at the genius of the ass before pulling him down a few inches by his collar._

_He stared at her defiantly._

_She kissed his nose affectionately. "Isn't it obvious?"_

_He let out a breath. "It's troublesome."_

"."."."

Temari was sitting down in the library after school with the language take home test in front of her when a body slid into the chair across from her.

She looked up. "Hey."

Shikamaru greeted her back, "Hey."

The blonde studied him more closely, observing that he was in a mood.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He responded simply, "I'm angry."

The sound of her pencil against the paper provided the background music as she commented, "Strange. How come?"

"You've done it again. When you don't have the right to." His narrow, chocolate-brown eyes bore into her face when she refused to meet his gaze. Instead, the assignment centering on conjugations and vocabulary were the focus of her deadly teal eyes. He should've been thankful she wasn't using them against him, but somehow that ignorance of hers increased his pissed off level.

"Why would I do something I don't have the right to?"

"Because you think you do but you don't. We're not together anymore yet you still feel the need to be the jealous bitch."

"I don't have that kind of need."

It was silence until Temari flipped one page of her stapled things, continuing the _scritch scratch_ of her pencil.

"Manami broke up with me and you had some influence," he said finally.

Now she used her teal eyes to stare back at him. "I didn't bully Manami. I haven't spoken to her since finding out she was your girlfriend. Believe me Shikamaru."

He closed his eyes. Five seconds passed and his brown orbs once again learned the image of Temari with an unfriendly expression.

"God. Did you like her that much?" she asked unkindly.

He shakes his head. The action disconcerts her, but nothing is said.

Shikamaru laid his chin on the flat front of his fingers placed on the table. He whined, "Give me a ride home please."

The blonde glared before agreeing to his request.

It was after dark when Shikamaru settled into the passenger seat of Temari's tan Chrysler.

It was a lengthy conversation, but he thought they both knew where they were headed now by the time she stopped in front of his home.

Warmly, Shikamaru kissed her forehead before turning away.

She teared up then drove off into the night.

"."."."

_Temari was supportive in her next action._

_She lightly gripped his face between her palms._

_He didn't seem to mind as he told her, "That's a lie." _

_"It was the truth once."_

_"Once," he agreed. _

_She shrugged, "Could be again."_

_A breeze sent her mind reeling as cigarette smoke bombarded her, one glance downward and there was a butt on the ground, still whipping up a swirl._

_ She managed to keep in a cough, then stomped on the end centimeters away from her foot, extinguishing it further. _

_Shikamaru didn't seem to have the same problem with his breathing._

_"__Yeah," was his lame response._

* * *

**the summary isn't at its best right now. Neither is the title. I'm asking for help on both of those. I think there's a better way to capture the greater side of this fic in 384 characters lol, so if there is, please inform me as well as your thoughts on the story. **


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